San Juan-Based Concert Promoter Is Ending Year on a Sweeter Note : Music: Chapter 11 files show Gary Folgner’s Coach House earned $300,000. Ventura venue turned its first profit.

For Coach House owner Gary Folgner, 1993 began with a declaration of personal bankruptcy, but it is ending with a substantial profit from his two concert clubs.

According to Folgner’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy file, the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano should net $300,000 in profits this year. In a recent interview, Folgner said his other club, the Ventura Theatre in Ventura, about 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles, will earn about $50,000 for the year. He said it will be the first time the Ventura has been profitable since he bought it in 1988.

Folgner filed for bankruptcy protection because of losses sustained three years ago in an attempt to expand his concert business by opening a 1,925-seat theater in Pasadena. According to a proposed plan of reorganization on file in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana, Folgner is relying on the continued profitability of the 492-seat Coach House and the 850-seat Ventura Theatre to pay off his debts.

According to the plan, which has yet to be ruled upon by the court, Folgner expects to take six years to pay his creditors 100% of what he owes--a total of $763,730. About a third of the debt consists of unpaid taxes with penalties and interest. One creditor is objecting to the plan, claiming that Folgner owes $63,000 from a 1988 loan on furnishings for the Ventura Theatre. Folgner’s plan of reorganization lists that debt at $20,000.

Even though the Coach House is making money--a return of 9.7% on estimated 1993 revenues of $3.1 million--Folgner said in the interview that the club has had better years and that Southern California’s slack economy has hurt it.

“The recession definitely is affecting us. There have been no raises, no bonuses and long hours” for the club’s nearly 70 employees, he said. “People are doing two people’s jobs.”

He noted that the Ventura Theatre’s profit this year was only about a quarter of what he had hoped it would be. Documents in the court file projected a profit of $115,000 at the Ventura, but Folgner said the actual performance will be less than half of that because of unexpected sound-system expenses and a leaner-than-expected final quarter. He said the reorganization plan’s projections concerning Coach House profitability for 1993 have proven accurate.

In any case, the 52-year-old concert promoter believes his clubs are well-positioned should the economy improve.

“I think we’re going to do real well. If you make money in this economy, as things get better, I think it’s going to be great.”

In his plan of reorganization, Folgner projects a 4.5% annual increase in net profits at the Coach House over the next four years. He expects profits at the Ventura Theatre to grow more rapidly, based on hoped-for increases in the theater’s use for film and video shoots and private functions, such as company parties and business banquets. The 1928-vintage theater’s well-preserved Art Deco interior makes it an attractive backdrop, said Folgner, adding that increased income from such uses accounted for the theater’s profitability this year.

The Coach House is by far the busier concert venue, Folgner said, averaging 18 to 22 concert nights each month “just like clockwork,” compared to about eight at the Ventura Theatre.

Folgner books a wide range of pop, rock, jazz and comedy attractions. Among those who played at the Coach House in 1993 were Los Lobos, Chris Isaak, Social Distortion, Joshua Redman, Belly, Cyndi Lauper, Paula Poundstone, Terence Trent D’Arby, Jimmy Cliff, Emmylou Harris, Gregg Allman and David Crosby. The Ventura Theatre schedule included shows by Peter Gabriel, Soul Asylum and Toto.

Also on the bankruptcy court file is a balance sheet for Folgner’s combined business operations--the Coach House, the Ventura Theatre and the Villa Mexican Restaurant in Dana Point--during the first six months of 1992., which he later said accurately reflects their ongoing operation.

According to the balance sheet, ticket sales bring in 49% of total revenues. Liquor sales generate 29% of total income, and food sales an additional 15%. The balance comes from concert guide revenues and management fees. Folgner spends 30% of his business income to pay entertainers and 18% to pay his 160 or so full-time and part-time employees. Other overhead expenses include 6% for rent and about 5% each for advertising, food and liquor.

The bankruptcy file also outlines how Folgner structures a typical deal with the touring headliners who play his clubs. In most cases, the act gets 85% of the ticket money, minus Folgner’s operating expenses related directly to staging the show. Folgner later said the expenses he deducts total $3,200 per night at the Coach House and include such costs as advertising and providing stage hands, security crew, sound and lights and hospitality for the performers.

Under this deal structure, which Folgner said applies “98% of the time,” an act that achieves a sellout (480 tickets) at $25 per ticket would earn approximately $7,500 per show. A $20-per-ticket act would take home about $5,500, and a $30 act would get $9,500.

Folgner himself hardly lives the lifestyle of a high-rolling rock promoter. He is a low-key, down-to-earth sort who said he doesn’t have expensive pastimes and plows most of his money back into his businesses.

“I just work,” he said. “I enjoy what I do.”

When he filed for bankruptcy in January, Folgner’s list of personal property included $6,100 in cash and bank accounts, $2,500 worth of household goods and a wardrobe valued at $1,000. He listed two vehicles worth $8,000, a 1988 Cadillac Seville and a 1978 Dodge truck.

According to the file, Folgner was paying himself a salary of $1,800 a month--the same amount as his estimated monthly expenses, which include $600 a month rent for his lodgings in a Dana Point motel owned by his family.

Even though his Pasadena venture landed him in bankruptcy court, Folgner said he still wants to expand his operations. He has been eyeing a possible move into the San Diego club market and his company, Folgner Management, is beginning to function as an independent promotion company that rents larger halls and puts on shows.

In October, Folgner staged a blues concert by Buddy Guy and John Mayall at the Mount Baker Theater, a 1,400-seat venue in Bellingham, Wash. He said he plans to book additional shows there next year. He also is promoting a New Year’s Eve concert by Los Lobos at the Oxnard Civic Auditorium and during the coming year said he expects to bring acts into two larger Long Beach venues, the Long Beach Arena and the Terrace Theatre.

Profile: Gary James Folgner

Position: Head of Folgner Management

Operation: Manages the Coach House, San Juan Capistrano; the Ventura Theatre in Ventura and the Villa Mexican Restaurant in Dana Point.

Residence: Dana Point.

Age: 52

Marital status: Single

Education: Attended Orange Coast College and California Lutheran College.

Background: Began working in small family businesses, which gave him a background in plumbing, home construction and restaurant management. Acquired the Coach House in 1980; it emerged as the top concert nightclub in Orange County in 1986 after the closing of the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach.

Outlook: To promote some larger-venue concerts in 1994; considering possible expansion into San Diego.

Source: Times reports Los Angeles Times